Recreate A Mini PacMan Game With Micro Hardware

Software developer Chris Duncan has created a realistic rendition of the classic Pacman game with minimal effort, using the Microsoft .NET framework development environment. The resulting code has been executed using the FEZ Spider hardware that is matched to the environment. It includes various controls and sensors, a powerful 73 MHz ARM7 processor and a great touch-screen colour LCD display. It is with this display in that the game comes to life – for example:

Another enthusiast has also built upon Chris’ project and mounted the entire kit into a miniature arcade cabinet:

Although the development environment is not as simple as the ones used for other microcontroller platforms, it’s a great entry point for those coming from Microsoft desktop programming environments and generally more popular with that cohort as opposed to embedded hardware engineers & hackers.

The code for other classic video games isn’t too hard to recreate, or exists already with a bit of searching – which leads to the possibility of making your own miniature video game system. The hardest part will be deciding how to charge the players! In the meanwhile, to get started visit Chris’ website, click here.